Today's topics:
"I know how to shoot!"
"I've been shooting all my life!"
"Husband / boyfriend = firearms instructor"
"Military / Law Enforcement Background = Firearms Instructor"
When I mention these myths in classes, I make sure to use my most redneck southern drawl. In a mocking way. Because that is indicative of my presumption of the myth-spreader's intelligence when they spew this. The one thing all of these myths have in common is that they are spoken by phony experts.
"I know how to shoot"
Often said by someone who means well in reply to the fact that there are classes out there. This person mistakenly believes that knowing what the trigger does means they know how to shoot. I love getting these guys on the line. The first 90 minutes of zeroing are always quite humbling. Being able to cause a machine to function does not mean one is adept at operating the machine in a useful and meaningful way.
"I've been shooting all my life"
And this guy has been playing music all his life. Doesn't mean it is being done correctly. "I've been shooting all my life" is often used as a means of classifying one's perceived skill set with a firearm. The people who perpetuate this myth often also perpetuate "I know how to shoot." Sometimes, they will be put together: "I know how to shoot, I've been shooting all my life!" Occasionally, but not often, this person is former military or police. Usually, they are not very good.
"Husband / boyfriend = firearms instructor"
Many of today's myths are aimed at firearms credentials that simply aren't. And this is the second worst offender. Like the videos you see of people handing their wife / girlfriend a huge gun and letting her shoot it and wind up getting hurt from the recoil... or worse. No instructor worth his salt would allow that to happen. In my classes - and most of the classes I've taken - the instructor separates husbands and wives (boyfriends & girlfriends). Because they often give the wrong advice.
"Military / Law Enforcement Background = Firearms Instructor"
Go watch the 10th Mountain Division video and come back and try to justify that nonsense. Someone relying on that background is like a yellow belt in karate relying on that background to teach martial arts. Just not nearly enough. Even "Special Forces," "SEALs," (insert flavor of the month other team) are not firearms instructors. Even though, from time to time, some of them can actually shoot halfway straight.
Of course, because all redneck Southerners are idiots. Youse guys know that, amirite?
ReplyDeleteAs a lifelong Tennessean, I resemble that remark. As the great Jeff Foxworthy says, the Southern accent is not the world's most intelligent sounding accent.
DeleteFoxworthy is a Yankee, Atlanta being a Yankee city. He even talks like it.
DeleteThe Southern accent is mellifluous and cultured. Being a Robertson Countian, mine is more of a hillbilly twang, but I refused to try to change it. I'm in a technological field, and it makes people think when the redneck actually knows what he's doing.
This is boring af. Comes off as elitist. So much generalization it can't be taken serious but you make it seem serious enough an issue to not be considered a joke. There's always next year I guess. Happy New Year snobs.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct. These four types do come off as elitist, and for absolutely no valid reason whatsoever. I wish it were a joke, but there are very few other endeavors in life where people try to come across as experts and certainly are not. Please see Paul Harrel's YouTube video on fake experts for more on the topic.
Delete